


Love equation

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teachers, M/M, mark and hyuck are students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 13:13:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12984795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The subject (history) that Jung Jaehyun teaches is boring, a boring subject for such an interesting guy. Doyoung is a biology teacher - an interesting subject for such a boring guy. Kim Doyoung + Jung Jaehyun = ?





	Love equation

Doyoung would be lying if he said that he hated being a teacher. Although he had original plans for his life which he didn’t manage to achieve, seeing students learn effectively made him feel a whole lot better. And he would’ve been lying if he said that he didn’t like this new school that he was transferred to. Surely a hassle due to commuting times and peak hours, but he didn’t mind.

 

And he most certainly would be lying if he said that he didn’t have a crush on one of the history teachers in the school, mind you. A boring subject for such an interesting guy. Doyoung always fell asleep in history classes when he went to school. His history grades were disastrous. His liking for this history teacher is going to be disastrous as well.

 

-

 

“Doyoung, pass me the ball,” Yuta commands Doyoung, pointing to a ball that is a few meters away. “According to vectors, if you start from origin A, then to origin B, rather than just walk a straight distance to the ball which is right in front of you, Nakamoto Yuta, you would get the ball faster than I would.” Doyoung states. “Shut up, you’re not Taeil,” Yuta grumbles, walking straight and picking up the ball. Doyoung feels accomplished.

 

Doyoung looks around in case any lurking students could see and hear them. “Where’s the literature teacher that teaches the class next to your P.E. lessons all the time? The one that you like?” Yuta’s eyes widen and he hits Doyoung right between the shoulder blades, causing him to wince and stop himself from swearing no matter how urged he was to do so. “Shut the fuck up.” Yuta whispers before his concerned frown turns into a smug grin. Here it comes.

 

“Where’s the history teacher that you like, Mr. Jung Jaehyun? Remember when I caught you staring at his ass-” “I don’t know, probably in history class teaching his students about the history of China?” Doyoung interrupts, managing to avert more questions because the bell rings in the span of this time. Chatters start growing louder and Yuta looks towards the staircases. “My class is coming, bye!” He waves and Doyoung sighs before shaking his head.

 

More classes. Here we go.

 

Doyoung opens his eyes when he walks into the classroom as naturally as he could. It amuses the students, the fact that he really did not want to be there. “Good morning, class.” He says firmly, clearly and loudly. The way you should speak if you’re a teacher (if not, you’d be considered a pushover). They greet him back and sit down, no one else mentioning anything, to his delight. He clears his throat and starts monotonously.

 

“We’re going to be doing an experiment on enzymes today,” he starts, and somewhere at the back, Lee Donghyuck whines loudly and Doyoung glares. He was the worst kid in the class – and what’s even worse was that he was close friends with the best kid in the class – Mark Lee – a Canadian transfer student that excels so well that even the principal keeps a close eye on him. Doyoung wonders how he could maintain his grades even under the influence of Lee Donghyuck. Maybe he's just a genius.

 

“I would be glad to take you out of class if you really don’t want to do this practical, Donghyuck. Just keep in mind that this will be thirty-five percent of your accumulated biology grade for the term. Unless it doesn’t really matter to you,” Doyoung calls out. Donghyuck finally keeps silent. “I have requested for this school to give proper material for the science practical, meaning that we have pH indicating papers rather than just using litmus papers.” (Doyoung doesn’t really know why he’s telling the students this. Maybe it's because he's slightly annoyed by the matter).

 

“So you take the pH levels of the solution in which the enzymes are in and measure it. Identify it in your worksheets by the end of the lesson. Please read the other instructions before starting in five minutes – bile salts are in front, by the way. Be careful with them, they smell bad. Please don't spill it.” Doyoung ends off, and the class starts increasing in volume again. Doyoung sits back. So long as no one breaks a test tube, he would be fine.

 

“Mr. Kim, is the school really going bankrupt because of science practicals?” Lee Donghyuck sticks his head out while collecting his bile salts, almost knocking the beaker over. “Watch the beaker,” Doyoung points out, and Donghyuck stands up straight. “I won’t say that they’re going broke because of the science practicals, but…” Doyoung doesn’t know if he should continue.

 

“If the school went broke, it would be because of the principal’s choice of purchasing more potted plants than what can fit into the school compound.” Doyoung lowers his tone at the last part, and Donghyuck almost chokes. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, though.” Of course, Lee Donghyuck would tell someone about it. Doyoung sighs to himself when almost all of the students had dispersed from the teacher’s table.

 

He walks around the class, watching the students do their practical, making sure that no one’s doing anything wrong that could potentially kill the whole class. Thank god Doyoung wasn’t a chemistry teacher. “Jisung, what are you doing? You’re supposed to drop the oil into the bile salts, not mix everything together.” Doyoung frowns, and Jisung shrugs. Jisung never knew what he was doing, and neither did Doyoung. And neither did the rest of the class.

 

“If I mix pepsin with amylase, would the amylase get digested? Because technically, enzymes are proteins. Pepsin breaks down proteins, doesn’t it?” Chenle, another student, asks. Doyoung pretends to not have heard it and walks away. He didn’t want to have to deal with questions like that. “Doyoung - Dongyoung? I mean, Mr. Kim?”

 

A familiar head pops out from behind the door, and there stood Youngho (or what the kids called him, Mr. Seo). Doyoung raises an eyebrow and hurries towards the other. “What?” Doyoung asks as soon as they were out of sight (and sound). “Someone arranged a meeting later. Only our side of the office.” Youngho informs him and Doyoung sighs. “Does this mean that they’re going to take my lunch away again?”

 

Youngho shrugs. “I swear, the only reason why I have money is that the school’s depriving me of all my meals. Anyway, I have to get to a class. See you during break time,” Youngho waves, and Doyoung sighs again, this time softly, and to himself. Their ‘side’ of the office meant that Jaehyun was going to be there. He couldn’t wait, yet he felt the tiniest tinge of anticipation and fear.

 

Doyoung walks back to class to hear a piercing scream. Turns out Jaemin told Chenle a joke that made Chenle laugh. Doyoung doesn’t even want to question anymore.

 

-

 

“What’s this meeting for?” Taeil walks into the room with his heavy looking books. “I don’t know. Why do you look like you’ve been through a war?” Doyoung watches as Taeil puts his books down and turns back to marking his own papers after. Taeil sighs. “I had to teach the further math class differential geometry today. I’m about to pass out.”

 

“I don’t even know what the hell that is,” Doyoung remarks, drawing a huge ‘x’ on Donghyuck’s paper. “If only we could be like Yuta.” Taeil snorts. “What does he do again?”

 

“I don’t know, make students run around with balls or something like that. Actually, I wouldn’t want to be him anyway. Moving’s too much of a hassle,” he remarks as he marks Mark’s work breezily because the boy had gotten full marks, as usual. “You free for lunch later?” Doyoung looks up, and Taeil looks at his watch. “I don’t think I can make it for lunch today, sorry. I’m giving extra consultation to my physics class.”

 

“Okay, Mr ‘I’m so smart, I teach both physics and math’,” Yuta barges into the room and interrupts. Behind him trailed a Chinese teacher, Sicheng, which everyone was confused yet amazed by due to his ability to _never_ talk yet _talk so much_ once it’s in Chinese. Behind Sicheng was Youngho. Behind Youngho was Jaehyun, holding a book which read ‘The Cold War’ in big, bold text. How can a war be cold?

 

“What’s happening?” Jaehyun asks with big, smiling, bright eyes. It was almost as if he was looking right at Doyoung, but Doyoung pretends not to notice and turns back to his worksheets. It was quite a dumb idea to have a crush on one of your colleagues. Doyoung goes back to marking the papers before realizing that he had already marked the whole stack of them.

 

“There’s going to be a new teacher in this corner, I think,” Youngho adds. “That makes sense. I hope it’s Taeyong.” Yuta comments. Youngho narrows his eyes. “Who?”

 

“The new literature teacher.” Yuta makes awkward eye contact with Doyoung who looks away immediately. Jaehyun seems to be taking note of every action anyone took. “He’s nice. We’re friends.” Yuta doesn’t forget to add, turning his back to and walking towards his own table. Youngho snorts. “That’s how you react whenever a new above-average looking teacher transfers here.”

 

“Average looking? He’s more than average looking,” Yuta turns around at the speed of light. “What a pity that we’re teaching in a boys’ school. Actually –” Yuta stops before glancing around the room. “It’s a good thing that we’re teaching in a boys’ school. Then I won’t have any competitors for-”

 

“Hi, hello, Taeyong!” Jaehyun cuts Yuta off abruptly and as loudly as he could, causing Yuta to stop mid-sentence and turning around to face the guy that he was talking about with his mouth gaping open.Yuta should thank him later. Taeil glances at everyone’s face, clearly amused. Taeyong steps into the room and twiddles his thumbs nervously, a bag slung over his left shoulder. “Hi, I’ve been transferred here.”

 

“Of course, we’ve heard,” Youngho starts and points, “your seat’s there.” Taeyong gives a knowing nod and makes his way towards the empty seat next to Yuta – Doyoung tries not to make any eye contact with Yuta or Taeil as it would either result in Doyoung bursting into laughter at Yuta’s reaction or Taeil bursting into laughter at Yuta’s reaction. This moment is priceless.

 

“So, uh…” Youngho starts, attempting to dilute the awkward mood. Taeil snickers to himself and the silence is suffocating – Doyoung picks up his books. “I’m going to go prepare some materials for my class’s biology practical.”

 

“I should go, too…” Jaehyun looks at the time and Doyoung’s heart skips a beat but he’d rather not do anything about it. To make sure that he didn’t have to seem as if he were following Jaehyun, he almost makes a run for the door, not turning back. He has to be in front and sure enough, Jaehyun is right behind him. “Hey, did you have lunch?” The other calls out, and Doyoung turns around with an eyebrow raised. “What?”

 

“Did you manage to have lunch? Youngho said that you couldn’t have lunch either.” Jaehyun replies, and Doyoung shakes his head. “I didn’t have time today.”

 

“I’m pretty sure you don’t have to get to class _now,_ ” Jaehyun starts, and Doyoung gulps loudly. He hopes that Jaehyun didn’t hear that. “Do you want to eat lunch with me?”

 

Canteen food? Sounds like the perfect date.

 

“That’s- No, that’ll… that would be great,” Doyoung clears his throat loudly and stutters. Jaehyun laughs. “Come on, let’s go. We have so much to catch up on.”

 

So much to catch up on… Doyoung tails behind Jaehyun as the other leads him to the canteen. You see, Doyoung wasn’t very experienced with relationships or anything like that. When he had realized his feelings for Jaehyun weren’t what he normally felt towards others, he tried his best to drift away from the boy. It may sound sad, but he’d rather be with him for the time period and forget him after they separate rather than have him imprinted in his mind forever. It's better if it never happened that if it ended roughly.

 

It’s sad, isn’t it?

 

“What’s on your mind?” Jaehyun asks and Doyoung snaps out of it, shaking his head quickly. “Nothing much. I just tend to zone out… as you can see…” Doyoung replies while pursing his lips, resisting the urge to bite them – something he did when he was nervous or bored or just didn’t know what he should do. Jaehyun laughs. He always does that. “So, uh… You’ve been here for two months since the new term started, how is this place?”

 

Doyoung doesn’t really know how he should reply. “It’s alright, I guess. Only… do you happen to teach a student called Lee Donghyuck?” Doyoung lowers his volume at the last part, he didn’t want to be caught gossiping about one of his students. “Of course, when anyone talks about their new experiences at this school, they have to talk about Donghyuck,” Jaehyun sniggers.

 

Doyoung waits behind Jaehyun awkwardly and watches as the boy took his tray – Doyoung follows suit, looking around the canteen and making sure that no other students were there. Out of all the students that he taught, only Chenle was there, which wasn’t too good of a sign – but at least he was bearable when his mouth was closed. Doyoung takes the bland and colorless food – Jaehyun waited for him, and they walk back to the tables together.

 

“What did Lee Donghyuck do in your class?” Doyoung asks as soon as they sit down. “Oh, he did a lot of things,” Jaehyun starts, already holding back his laughter. It was one of the most adorable things that Doyoung has ever seen, he wondered why someone looking like Jaehyun ended up being a teacher. “He keeps telling everyone that Hitler has a nice ass. Oh – he somehow managed to mention you in his essay about Stalin.” Jaehyun informs him.

 

Doyoung would choke on his food if he had started eating, his eyes widen, and from what he could remember from writing his own history essays in school, they only wrote of the people in the past. Doyoung’s alive, isn’t he? “What did he write about me in there?” Doyoung asks cautiously, afraid that it may be something embarrassing. Jaehyun snickers to himself like he couldn’t say it. “I’ll tell you, but you can’t get offended.”

 

“I’ll try,” Doyoung implies. “It went a little something like, ‘Stalin rose to power in 1924 because of his butt. It was plump and soft unlike Mr Kim Dongyoung’s, who is as flat as a ruler. I think Mr Moon Taeil can use him to draw linear graphs,’ If I’m not wrong,” Jaehyun holds back his laughter and Doyoung is ambivalent – he doesn’t know whether he should laugh or cry or ask Jaehyun for the essay and handing it into the principal’s office.

 

“He isn’t that bad of a student, though. Except for that. But it’s only because he’s bored or something.” Jaehyun shrugs. “Pretty smart. It’s just that he’s mischievous and not very interested at all.” Doyoung shakes his head, “he’s disastrous in biology. Did you even confront him about that paper?”

 

Jaehyun throws his head back in laughter. “I didn’t know if I should – the whole history faculty read it. Some of them even agreed, but sadly, it wasn’t a point relevant enough to give marks for. Anyway, he passed that paper, though it was just a borderline pass.” Some of them even _agreed_? Doyoung narrows his eyes. “Who agreed?” A grey ominous feeling… “Was it you?”

 

“Spot on,” Jaehyun exclaims excitedly and Doyoung glares. “My ass is doing alright, thank you very much.”

 

“Are you sure?” Jaehyun raises an eyebrow suggestively and Doyoung can feel his cheeks heating up and reddening. “Why, do you want to check it or something?” Doyoung blurts out unknowingly and the words were out before he could catch them – Jaehyun has the weirdest look on his face and Doyoung knows that he did something. And he suddenly wishes he just told the other that he had to set up the apparatus for the biology practical.

 

Jaehyun takes a moment to observe Doyoung’s face before furrowing his eyebrows. “I won’t really be sure what I’m analyzing. Like, it’s not even there.” He replies in a hushed whisper and Doyoung resists the urge to hit him in the head. “Let’s change the subject – we don’t want students listening in to our conversation about my ass.”

 

“This _is_ an interesting topic,” Jaehyun challenges, and Doyoung rolls his eyes. “Not to me.”

 

The bell rings and they’re both reminded of the time – Doyoung’s eyes widen like they usually do, Jaehyun puts his chopsticks and spoon aside and they’re standing up in sync in all the strangest ways. Doyoung lets Jaehyun go first, he always does. He doesn’t know how he should act if Jaehyun were to follow behind him. They return their trays in silence unlike moments before when they were talking over their food.

 

“See you around, okay?” Jaehyun places a hand on his shoulder – this slightest touch makes every nerve in Doyoung’s body shiver but he tries not to show it, as much as his nervous system would like to go crazy at that moment, his heart beats quickly and his ears feel hot – the hormone adrenaline was secreted into his bloodstream, and thank god he was a biology teacher because he would’ve suspected that he was getting a heart attack if he didn’t have knowledge of the body.

 

“S-see you,” he almost sounds like he’s shaking, but shakes it off. “Of course I’ll see you around, our tables are nearby,” Doyoung adds and laughs carelessly, and so does Jaehyun, fiddling with something in his pocket and clamping his book to his torso. Why do Doyoung’s his nerve receptors send him the signal to move closer? No, he was going insane. He was going to be driven out of his mind by Jung Jaehyun, and he doesn’t even know it.

 

“Science lab’s downstairs.” Doyoung informs him, and it’s a way to tell Jaehyun that they’d be parting here, as much as Doyoung didn’t want it. Jaehyun gives a nod of acknowledgment – the brightest smile – and a small, happy wave. He walks up the stairs while Doyoung goes down. Doyoung sighs (but not too loudly, he doesn’t want Jaehyun to hear him) and holds his books closer to his chest.

 

Taeil is in the physics lab, watching a chemical reaction occur in his hands. Doyoung raises an eyebrow and walks in curiously – the room was empty except for him. “What are you doing?” Doyoung asks, and Taeil looks up sheepishly, his usual look. He signals at the experiment, a blue precipitate in the test tube. “Qualitative analysis.”

 

“Going to teach chemistry now?” Doyoung jokes, pointing at the test tube. Taeil shrugs. “Only for the beginners.” He starts – “they’re short of chemistry teachers, and they asked me to help to fill in the lower grades.” He pours something in and shakes the solution, and it turns a deep blue. Doyoung would be fascinated, but chemistry wasn’t something that he bothered with. “Wow. Are they going to pay you extra for that?”

 

Taeil laughs. “That’s why I said yes, right?”

 

-

 

Doyoung is marking papers at his table when the chair behind him is pushed and someone sits down. He turns to face Jaehyun, who was back facing Doyoung with a whole stack of what he presumed to be history essays. It really was funny – a boring subject for such an interesting person. “Do you want to go for lunch?” Jaehyun asks without turning his back. Doyoung almost curses.

 

“Yeah, sure,” he regains his composure quickly enough to reply like a normal human being. Jaehyun gets up from his seat, sliding his phone into his pocket with a slight motion towards the door, indicating that they should go. Doyoung takes the hint and pulls the glass door open for the other who thanks him with a smile, the same bright smile. Walk to the canteen – silent, but in the best way possible.

 

They grabbed their food, sat and Jaehyun starts laughing at himself for no reason whatsoever. Doyoung frowns and furrows his eyebrows. “What are you laughing at?”

 

“There’s ink on your face,” Jaehyun laughs, pointing to the bottom of Doyoung’s chin. He must’ve got it there when he was taking a short nap after marking papers to mark even more papers – Doyoung tries to rub it off quickly. “You’re getting the wrong spot,” Jaehyun says and lifts himself from his seat to place a hand on Doyoung’s chin, fingers gripping his jaw and thumb rubbing the ink off.

 

Doyoung wants to scream. Or cry. Or both – the sheer feeling of Jaehyun this close to him stimulated the weirdest reaction from his body – his vision is narrowing, his heart is racing, and time is slowing down. The dreaded moment comes when Jaehyun removes his hand, and Doyoung pretends that nothing had happened, looking back down on his food. He sighs once before eating a mouthful. “Thanks.”

 

“Have you heard about Yuta and Taeyong?” Jaehyun suddenly mentions, and Doyoung’s attention is stolen. He frowns. “What, did they fuck or something?”

 

Jaehyun nods. “In the janitor’s closet… Youngho caught them.” Doyoung shudders. He can’t imagine doing anything like that in a place where hundreds of students could find out. “But they’ve only known each other for a few weeks…”

 

“I guess they don’t like to take it slow,” Jaehyun shrugs. “Honestly, I-” “Mr. Jung! Mr. Kim!” An annoyingly familiar voice calls out from behind Doyoung – sharp and clear. And annoying. “Hello!” Lee Donghyuck laughs and casually plops into the seat next to Jaehyun, and Mark, who was probably just following Donghyuck, sits next to Doyoung silently. Jaehyun raises an eyebrow and looks at the two. “Are you having your break now?”

 

“Yeah.” Donghyuck replies. “Shouldn’t you go eat something, then?” Doyoung asks, hoping to get rid of them. Donghyuck shrugs. “We’ve already eaten.” Doyoung looks at Mark who smiles and gives a friendly wave – being the person he is. “Did you do your biology homework?” Doyoung narrows his eyes and questioned. Mark nods eagerly but Donghyuck avoids eye contact with him, instead, looking at the clock on the other side of the wall. Jaehyun chuckles.

 

“You should do your biology homework too, you know?” He remarks, patting Donghyuck on the back. “If you can take so much time to write your history essays, why can’t you do the same with your biology?” Jaehyun asks, and Donghyuck shrugs. “Science is too complicated and complex – I’m tired. and I don’t want to know. And it’s boring. And I hate biology.”

 

Doyoung frowns, “should I feel offended?”

 

 “Not really. I just don’t like your subject. I like history.” Donghyuck replies. Doyoung looks over to Jaehyun, who has a smug grin on his face. “Why would you find science boring when you take history, the subject literally known for being boring? Science _is_ interesting, especially biology.”

 

Jaehyun clears his throat. “History is _not_ boring, you get to learn about what crafted the world today, and the reason for the world to be like this today. The best thing about it is, there will always be new content and new history.” He shoots back and Doyoung frowns. “And so? That just makes it more confusing. On the other hand, science-” Donghyuck clears his throat loudly and Mark has to refrain from laughing before Doyoung and Jaehyun both realize that they are getting _too_ into it.

 

Mark laughs softly, to himself. Donghyuck frowns. “I think it’s just based on personal preference. Honestly. No offence at all.”

 

“Mark, do you prefer biology or history?” Doyoung asks Mark, and Mark glances up with his eyes wide open, in shock, probably. Mark’s eyes travel to Jaehyun, then Doyoung, then Jaehyun again – both of them looking hopeful that the boy would pick them. Mark gulps. “English. English is my favorite class.” Mark answers. “We’re asking for it to be between history or biology.” Jaehyun insists. They’re putting the boy on the spot, and Donghyuck seems to be enjoying it.

 

Thankfully (for Mark), the bell rings and they had to go for classes. He very gladly pulls himself out of his seat next to Doyoung swiftly, followed by Donghyuck, taking him as quickly as his legs could take him. Poor Mark – caught between two of their teachers like that. Donghyuck looks back at Jaehyun and Doyoung and grins evilly, as if he’s just come up with a plan.

 

“We should never do that ever again,” Jaehyun laughs, and Doyoung chuckles. “Never in my lifetime. Never again.”

 

-

 

“New chapter today.” Doyoung states loudly, writing a couple things on the board, back facing the students. “The eye.” He says to no one in particular. “This is the anatomy of the eye,” he flashes something on the projector screen, and a few students squirm. “Oh, we haven’t even seen the real anatomy.” Doyoung comments, and someone at the back groans. “Don’t worry. I can’t look at it either.”

 

“There are two major components that we’re going to be learning this chapter – the pupil reflex and the-” “Excuse me,” the words came after the three knocks on the door. “I’m-” Jaehyun’s head pops into the room, and Doyoung’s eyes widen – he walks right out, gripping on to Jaehyun’s wrist after exiting and pulling him aside from the entrance of the class, where no students could see.

 

Jaehyun looks shocked, and Doyoung doesn’t understand why. “I was just looking for a student. Lee Jeno.” He laughs, and Doyoung can already feel his face heating up. “But if you really want to talk to me so bad,” he chuckles again, “what do you want to tell me?”

 

Doyoung wants to crawl into a hole. Perhaps fall into one. And never come out. “It was… a reflex action.” He smiles sheepishly, playing it dumb and scratching the back of his head. “Alright. As much as I want to keep you out here to talk to you, I think you have a class to teach.” Jaehyun nods. “Help me call Lee Jeno out.”

 

Doyoung trudges back in (he really doesn’t want to go back to teaching) and asks for Lee Jeno, like Jaehyun requested. How was he going to get back on track? Did Jaehyun just say that he wanted to keep talking to him?

 

-

 

How do you spell “doomed”? Because Doyoung is definitely doomed – you see, he isn’t one that can express his feelings well when it comes to attraction – usually outspoken, this is unusual for him. Doyoung is tired and he wants to tell Jaehyun that he likes him. But he doesn’t have the guts to. Every time he sees him in the hallways, he wants to kiss him. He wants to hold his hand. And it’s only getting worse. It’s ludicrous.

 

Doyoung thinks that Donghyuck and his students may be beginning to notice. Donghyuck looks at him in a weird kind of way whenever Jaehyun was around. If he ever dared to confront Doyoung, though, (Doyoung would like to see this unfold) he would get a detention. No meddling in teachers’ matters. On the other hand, is it a bad thing that Doyoung wanted Donghyuck to meddle a little, be a catalyst for their relationship?

 

Because all he wants is Jaehyun.

 

It hurts a little when it seems as if Jaehyun only takes Doyoung for a friend.

 

-

 

Doyoung marks the class test on the eye – impressed at Mark again, though he was already starting to get used to the boy’s knowledge. Donghyuck’s – terrible, he couldn’t even read his handwriting, he obviously didn’t study, but he still passed. Doyoung wants to fail him but he’s a teacher, and he has to stop himself no matter how tempting it may be.

 

Doyoung is marking his papers at the library because Jaehyun is distracting. Two seats away from him are Sicheng and two Chinese students, Chenle and Renjun, probably communicating in Chinese and seeing their teacher for some extra help, but they didn’t seem to need it since they’re already fluent, and they keep looking over at Doyoung and looking away whenever Doyoung looks back up at them – weird, Doyoung doesn’t question it.

 

Chenle laughs loudly, and the two shush him, probably informing him that they were in a library. The library was the last place Doyoung expected Chenle to ever be. The library should be the last place anyone would guess Chenle to be at. Weird.

 

-

 

Today Doyoung sits at his desk, doing nothing in particular. Next to him, Youngho is trying to teach Jaehyun some English (which Jaehyun was already pretty good at, mind you. Doyoung always makes sure that he likes someone that’s smart). On the other side, Yuta and Taeyong are talking in hushed whispers. They’re probably talking about the things that they would do when everyone else leaves the classroom.

 

Sicheng is sitting by himself, and Taeil is hidden behind stacks of papers. He sure was busy – Doyoung even helped him out once by marking his physics papers (only the multiple choice parts) for him. Doyoung knew nothing about physics as he dropped it as soon as he could. The bell rings, and most of them pick up their books to start leaving with the exception of Yuta, Jaehyun, and Sicheng. This was his last class of the day.

 

Doyoung enters the classroom when Donghyuck is at the front, performing some kind of ritual on Chenle who looks anticipating and excited, grinning as he watches Donghyuck circle around him. Doyoung stands by the door, waiting for them to notice that he was already there, but Donghyuck doesn’t notice, or, probably chose to ignore him, carrying on with his ritual or whatever the hell he was doing. Doyoung cleared his throat. “Hello.”

 

Chenle’s eyes widen and he runs back, but Donghyuck is still dancing – the class snickers together and Doyoung sighs, tapping the boy’s shoulder. Donghyuck then walks back to his seat with a smug look on his face. “Hi, class.” He says again, putting his books down on the table along with a stack of worksheets. “We’re going to start on heredity and inheritance today, I’ll hand out this worksheet and you guys can refer to your textbooks for the answer. We’ll go through it later.”

 

Doyoung was going through several teaching methods – he hopes this works. So while all of them go through their textbooks, scanning for the answer, Lee Donghyuck gets up from his seat and strolls up to Doyoung’s desk. Doyoung raises an eyebrow. “Mr. Kim, can I see you for a consultation today, after school?”

 

“What for?” Doyoung asks – though he was alright with meeting the boy. “Biology in general. I want to get better at it.” He sounds serious, unlike how he ever acts in front of Doyoung – but at the same time, he could just be acting, you never know what goes on in Donghyuck’s mind. Doyoung nods. “Alright then, right after school?”

 

Donghyuck nods. “Can’t wait to see you later!” Doyoung frowns at him.

 

The class went by breezily because they haven’t gotten started on the part of the topic which involved dominant and recessive alleles, the part where most students get stuck at. The next class, though, was going to be hell. Doyoung dismisses the class, packs up his own books, and leaves the classroom. He has two more hours before school ends for the students, and two more hours before he had to see Donghyuck.

 

The moment Doyoung walks out of class Jaehyun is standing there and Donghyuck is talking to him – Doyoung raises an eyebrow and approaches them, walking slowly and trying to listen in on the conversation (yes, he really did). However, when he got closer, Donghyuck was already done and leaving, and Jaehyun smiles at him. Doyoung halts in his steps. “Do you want to eat lunch?” Jaehyun asks. “Together?”

 

And of course, Doyoung doesn’t reject him. They walk and sit together and collect their food together just like all the times. One thing Doyoung did notice was Sicheng talking to Chenle and Renjun again. He felt that they were talking about him – assuming from the fact that they looked up at him and Jaehyun every five minutes, and Doyoung stares back uncomfortably. Jaehyun notices, of course, and asks him what’s wrong. Doyoung tells him that there’s nothing wrong.

 

There’s so many things that are happening right now which are wrong, but all of them are disregarded by the fact that he’s with Jaehyun, who makes his heart flutter and his mind forget the things that they’re supposed to remember. If this did work out, Doyoung even made plans on how he could disguise their relationship in front of students, he thought it out cleverly and orderly.

 

-

 

“You’re really something,” Doyoung clenches his fists, looking at a pleased Donghyuck, a confused Jaehyun, and a regretful Mark. They were at the tables outside the staffroom where the students would normally go to for a consult. “Oops. I didn’t know that the biology consultation that I asked for clashed with the history one. At least I asked a male teacher? I mean, since all the other biology teachers in our school are female besides you. It would have been way more awkward if I decided to consult a female teacher-” Jaehyun looks over to Doyoung sheepishly.

 

“Just sit down, Donghyuck.” Jaehyun laughs, and Donghyuck complies. “Why don’t I see you on another day? It isn’t possible to have history and biology consultation at the same time.” Doyoung suggests, avoiding all eye contact with Jaehyun in front of the students, worried that he would crack anytime. “No, I think it’s possible,” Jaehyun replies, and Doyoung grits his teeth. He sits down unwillingly, next to Mark and in front of Donghyuck.

 

“How exactly are we going to make this work?” Doyoung raises an eyebrow and Jaehyun shrugs. “Mark, do you have any questions to ask me?”

 

“Not really, Donghyuck forced me to come and I’m really not sure for what.” Mark replies. Doyoung looks up to give Donghyuck a snarky comment, but the boy was already in deep discussion with Jaehyun, Jaehyun pointing to different countries on his map on his book and explaining what sounded like the first world war to him. Doyoung would feel bad if he interrupted, the two were so focused and Donghyuck was actually paying attention.

 

He closes his mouth and looks over to Mark. Mark looks back at him awkwardly and sympathetically. Doyoung sighs softly. “Why don’t you explain to me what we’re going to do next lesson?” Mark suggests. See, this is why the only student that Doyoung likes is Mark.

 

Doyoung just tries to shut Jaehyun out and explains the dominant and recessive alleles to Mark. Mark gets it after one or two tries, and Doyoung looks back over to Jaehyun who seems to be smirking at him. “Teach your student,” Doyoung mouths, looking towards Donghyuck. Jaehyun shrugs, “he’s your student too.”

 

Donghyuck looks up quickly as if he could see what was happening from the top of his head, and Doyoung cracks his knuckles loudly, looking at his jeans. “Jesus. Those are some loud knuckles,” Jaehyun laughs nervously and Doyoung frowns at him. This, he thinks, causes Donghyuck to look over to Mark and have an amused smirk on his face. Mark looks puzzled. Maybe that’s just his face.

 

“I think I’m done with Japan. Can I do biology now?” Donghyuck asks, closing his history book, and Doyoung feels like he’s _won_. He takes out his biology book and looks up to Doyoung with that cunning grin – this is when Doyoung knows that he’s going to ask something very _interesting_. “Can we go through the chapter that we did two chapters ago?” Donghyuck asks. As if Doyoung remembers (actually, he does).

 

Jaehyun looks at him expectantly and Doyoung frowns. “The human eye?”

 

“No, teacher, that was three chapters ago.” Donghyuck says. “Plant reproduction?”

 

“That was the previous chapter,” Donghyuck scoffs. Doyoung stares at him unbelievably. “You mean you remember all of this nonsense but not the actual content that you need to know?”

 

Doyoung frowns at Donghyuck again. “Sexual reproduction! That’s the topic I need help with.” Donghyuck lights up instantly. Doyoung’s eyes shift to an uncomfortable Mark and then to a smirking Jaehyun, and oh god, he doesn’t want to do this. But he has to. He convinces himself that it’s just science. It’s just science. Donghyuck flips to the page with the big diagrams and claims that he cannot identify the parts.

 

“You mean you can’t tell the female and male reproductive system apart?” Doyoung’s mouth gapes open. What on earth _was_ Donghyuck trying to do? “I can, sir. As you can see, I _am_ a boy. I don’t know the process of fertilization. What happens to the guy?”

 

“When he’s,” Doyoung makes gestures, hoping that he didn’t have to say the words. He avoids eye contact with Jaehyun. “When he, you know, is aroused, he… uh… nerve signals are sent from the brain to the relay neurons… to the motor neurons… no, wait, sorry. I mixed up. Chemical messages, hormones, are sent from the brain. The blood rushes down to, you know, there, because the arteries are relaxed and more blood is allowed to… go there. And… it… stands?”

 

“What about the other thing? When the sperms are released?” Donghyuck asks, and Doyoung wants to hit him in the head with the biology textbook. “That’s not in the syllabus.”

 

“But it’s still science. And we never know what’s going to come out in the national exam,” Donghyuck insists, and Doyoung tries his best to resist the urge to run away. “That’s not endocrine control. That’s nervous control. Uh… When, you know, the guy’s like, feeling it, signals are sent to the spinal cord, to the relay neurons, to the motor neurons to the effector which are muscles at the base of the penis and they contract. That happens. Yeah.”

 

“You should be more in depth,” Jaehyun comments, laughing as Doyoung’s cheeks reddened. “The students usually research on this sort of thing, so I don’t have to explain anything to them. I’m surprised you asked, Donghyuck.”

 

Donghyuck holds his hands up. “My search history is clean.”

 

“You sure?” Mark asks, and Donghyuck glares. “As neat as all the experiments we do in your class, Mr. Kim!”

 

Doyoung raises an eyebrow. “Is that an insult?”

 

“No, I like practicals.” Donghyuck replies (Doyoung takes mental notes. He still wants to be a better teacher). “Anyway, all my doubts are cleared. Thank you for today!” He grabs his bags, his books, and soon, he’s off. Mark sighs and trudges behind the boy that’s already far away. Doyoung sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

 

“So, that was interesting,” Jaehyun laughs. “I’ve never been more interested in science.”

 

“Shut up,” Doyoung grumbles. “I can’t believe he made me say all of that.”

 

“What’s wrong with that?” Jaehyun asks. “It’s science, after all. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

 

He’s wrong, Doyoung’s cheeks flush and he doesn’t know what to say or how to react. “I have to go home.” Doyoung pretends to look at the time and stands up, unknowingly ramming his shin onto one of the legs of the table. He winces in pain, but he tries to escape from the other as quickly as he possibly can again. “Wait,” Jaehyun calls out, and it would be rude to _not_ turn around.

 

“Do you want to have dinner together?” Jaehyun asks, his eyes smiling. Doyoung is caught by surprise (in all honesty, he never thought that they would surpass just having lunch together) and is stunned. He just agrees. “Can I go to the bathroom first?”

 

Doyoung tries to not freak out when he enters the bathroom – this was the first time he was able to be with Jaehyun outside of school and without the pressure of students catching him gazing stupidly at Jaehyun. He neatened his hair a little, as if he’s ever cared about his physical appearance. Not that much, at least. Doyoung tries to rush himself – the toilet was creepy, and there were thumping noises coming from handicap cubicle, something Doyoung believes that he doesn’t want to approach.

 

“Yuta. Someone’s in here.” A harsh whisper. This wasn’t a familiar voice. It then occurs to Doyoung that he hasn’t talked to the new literature teacher, Taeyong, much. Their schedules and timetables seemed to always clash. “Students aren’t allowed in here. It’s probably a staff member. They know.” Yuta replies, and there’s a soft thump and a soft whimper. Doyoung feels disturbed. He clears his throat.

 

“You know, the last student just left not too long ago. You guys should just take this home next time.” Doyoung calls out, his voice echoing in the almost empty toilet. Yuta snickers.

 

When Doyoung forces himself to leave the toilet (he didn’t want to hear Yuta and Taeyong having sex, yet he didn’t want to have to face Jaehyun), he’s a bundle of nerves. It gets worse when he sees Jaehyun, and he feels so incredibly stupid. “Uh, hi. Yuta and Taeyong are having sex in the staff toilet.” Doyoung mentions, and Jaehyun chuckles. “When are they not?”

 

“That’s true,” Doyoung replies. “I have to get my bag-” “Here.” Jaehyun passes Doyoung his bag. Jaehyun is always full of surprises. Too many surprises. “Thanks,” Doyoung replies hastily, slinging the bag over his shoulder and wondering if Donghyuck and Mark were still in the school compound. They walked, and they walked silently, Doyoung secretly hoping that no one would barge in on them.

 

Moon Taeil likes to do things at the wrong time; he emerges out of the staffroom, gives a wave to Doyoung and Jaehyun, and drops his stack of worksheets. Jaehyun rushes over to help while Taeil laughs sheepishly, the way he does, picking up the endless amounts of worksheets – math, physics and now chemistry. Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. “You teach chemistry now?”

 

“Yeah,” Taeil replies, taking the worksheets back and smiling nervously. He always looks nervous when he smiles – his nose scrunches up in the most unnatural way. Doyoung passes Taeil a worksheet (he didn’t want to seem rude) and Taeil thanks them. “You should get a trolley,” Jaehyun says. “I don’t think it’s the first time today, you dropping the worksheets.” Doyoung clenches his fists, _come_ on, will you not be jealous?

 

“I’ll handle it from here, you guys can go.” And sometimes, Moon Taeil does the right things at the best time. Doyoung’s face lights up instantly and he waves at the other. Jaehyun looks like he’s about to say something but Doyoung drags him away. Well, not really. He doesn’t really have the courage to actually drag him away.

 

-

 

Dinner with Jaehyun goes the way Doyoung wanted it to go, and Doyoung learns about how Jaehyun decided to take a degree in history instead of law, how he feels about the school, how he likes his job, and Jaehyun learns about Doyoung in return. Doyoung doesn’t want to go into details because it would just make him miss Jaehyun more. Time passes by too quickly when he’s with Jaehyun.

 

And also, it’s pretty much confirmed that Jaehyun likes him back.

 

-

 

Doyoung feels lighter than usual today, and considers saying hi to Jaehyun before leaving for his first class. Doyoung turns to his back again and stares, waiting for the words to come out. “Bye. Have fun teaching.” Jaehyun replies, laughing. Does this guy have eyes on his back or something?

 

“I’m going!” Doyoung states loudly and Yuta looks at him disapprovingly. “What?” Doyoung frowns. “Dude, you’re so into him. I’ve never seen you this happy. Come on, did something happen last night? Of course, something happened.” Yuta asks, eyes gleaming with something that Doyoung doesn’t want to think about.

 

“Sorry, Yuta. I think you’re the only one that had some last night. I have to go teach now,” he points to his class and waves at Yuta cheerfully which was, he must add, extremely out of character. It’s like he’s a whole new person in front of Jaehyun – Jaehyun changes him so strangely and he doesn’t get how he does it.

 

“We’re going to start on a new chapter today – molecular genetics,” Doyoung starts, and half of the class cheers. Strangely, they had started to take a liking to him though Doyoung never did or said anything remotely nice to any of them (except for Mark, but that’s a different story). “These topics may be a little slower because we can’t exactly do experiments on them.”

 

“Adenine always pairs with thymine. Cytosine with guanine.” Doyoung explains the topic to the ever so attentive class, rummages through his bag for the worksheets, and remembers that he forgot to even print them. “Oh shit,” he mutters under his breath.

 

“Donghyuck, would you take care of the class while I go get the worksheets?” Doyoung requests of the boy who had been extremely attentive in class or more so after the consultation he had with Doyoung. Bullshit. The consultation that they had wasn’t even for a topic of high importance. Doyoung suspects that Donghyuck was trying to somewhat extract information out of him.

 

Doyoung runs so quickly that he’s surprised he wasn’t a PE teacher (Yuta looks at him weird and pretends that it was the most amazing thing that he’s ever seen) and he remembers why he hates running. He runs to the office, unlocks the door, and to his most pleasant surprise, Jaehyun was sitting there alone, still marking his papers. “You’re back?” He raises an eyebrow amusedly. “That’s quick.”

 

“I – forgot… I forgot to print my – papers.” Doyoung pants, rummaging through his drawers for the worksheet that he had planned to give them. Jaehyun laughs. “You sound like you’re dying.”

 

“Well, I think I am.” Doyoung snickers, trying to regain his breath. He cheers to himself when he finds the worksheet and Jaehyun looks at him with _that_ look, the look that makes Doyoung want to melt. “I’ll help you. This machine is slow.” Jaehyun says while bringing a stack of papers to the machine. Doyoung thanks him silently and places the worksheet in while Jaehyun fiddles with the buttons.

 

Doyoung stares at the buttons confusedly, as if they were completely foreign to him. “Are you okay?” Jaehyun asks, looking him straight in the eye. “Fine and… dandy.” Doyoung laughs nervously which amuses more, which makes Doyoung feel more exposed. “It’ll take quite a while for these papers to print. A few minutes, at most.” Jaehyun states, and Doyoung nods. “What are you going to do in the meantime?”

 

“I think I have a good idea,” Doyoung says, no longer able to resist it as he moves closer to Jaehyun, who gets the hint quickly. Soon he’s attaching his lips to Jaehyun’s, who seems completely impatient and willing. It’s long, sweet, kind of crazy, and everything that Doyoung wanted and could ever wish for. Doyoung relaxes a little when Jaehyun puts his arms around his waist, trying as hard as he could to not smile.

 

His lips were the softest, the smoothest and most velvety, and Doyoung loves it. He’s never felt anything like it, Jaehyun’s hands tensing up around his waist when Doyoung shows any sign of detaching himself by accident.

 

He doesn’t ever want to let go. Well, he has to eventually because they have to breathe. Also because Youngho decided to barge in at that moment, Youngho always barges in at the right moment. “Woah. Doyoung, don’t you have a lesson to teach?” He says, dumbstruck, and kind of in awe. “Thank god it was you, and not Yuta,” Jaehyun gives a breathy laugh – his arms were still around Doyoung’s waist and it seems as if he was intent on not letting go. “Don’t tell anyone,” Doyoung warns. Doyoung glances at Jaehyun’s arms, still resilient and not resisting.

 

Youngho snickers. “Everyone already knows about you two, you know? Because of Doyoung’s face every time-” “My papers! I have to go back to class,” Doyoung exclaims, pushing Jaehyun’s arms off him and grabbing his stack of papers and marching towards the door. “Hey, wait-” Youngho starts. “Thanks for helping me with the printing, Jaehyun!” Doyoung shrieks, running back to class again. He doesn’t look back at Youngho. He never wants to see Youngho again.

 

Again, when he reaches the staircases, Yuta frowns at him. Doyoung frowns back.

 

He emerges through the door to a completely noisy class, probably due to the fact that he had appointed Donghyuck to take care of the class while he was gone. Doyoung raises the stack of worksheets. “Sorry, there was a delay. The printer was… jammed.” He makes up the excuse on the spot and no one seems to think any better of it, except for Donghyuck who’s always trying to find things against Doyoung. No, he was busy sucking face with history teacher Jung Jaehyun.

 

“Mr. Kim, are you sure you’re alright? You look like… so disheveled and stuff.” Donghyuck asks, concerned, but Doyoung could tell that he wasn’t really concerned. “Go back to your seat. And help me to give this out. Do the worksheets when you get them,” he passes the worksheets to Donghyuck and collapses on the chair to catch his breath (not very teacher-like of him). The class snickers and Doyoung let them have his fun as his mind turns back to the moment where he was kissing Jaehyun.

 

Did he really just do that? Doyoung can’t believe he just did that. It was way better than he imagined, so unbelievably magical that Doyoung can’t help but to cringe at himself and how cheesy his thoughts were. It’s almost disgustingly sweet, like an over-sweetened caramel latte. Well, hold the sugar because Jaehyun’s sweet enough to spice up his life.

 

-

 

“Youngho told me,” the literature teacher, Taeyong, whispered into Doyoung’s ear. Doyoung jumps, curses Youngho, and greets Taeyong. “Did he tell Yuta?” Doyoung questions, worried, putting his pen down. Taeyong shrugs. “You should hope not. He has a huge mouth, like, literally and metaphorically. But I think only I would know about that. Unless…”

 

“Enough,” Doyoung shivers. He didn’t want to hear about Taeyong and Yuta’s sex life. 

 

“Yeah, anyway, I think everyone knows. Youngho never keeps his mouth shut.” Taeyong adds, and Doyoung sighs in exasperation, burying his head in his hands. The consequences of not being careful. Jaehyun walks in this very moment, and Doyoung lifts his head, continuing the painful process of marking his papers. Taeyong gets up and walks back to his seat, and Doyoung prays that Jaehyun doesn’t approach him.

 

Is he even surprised that he does?

 

“Hi,” Jaehyun says, and Doyoung can feel Taeyong’s eyes burn into his back from the other side of the room. He didn’t know much about him, but at least he knew that Lee Taeyong was one of the nosiest people ever. Not that that’s a bad thing – Doyoung himself is nosy, and also -was he zoning out at that moment- while staring right at Jaehyun’s lips? They curve up when Doyoung snaps out of it.

 

“What, you want to do it again?” His lips moved as he spoke, and Doyoung can feel his entire face heating up. Jaehyun inches closer, and Doyoung would be uncomfortable if it wasn’t Jaehyun. “Do what?”

 

Taeyong listens _very_ attentively. Doyoung hits Jaehyun on the shoulder. “Move. Go away.”

 

“What if I don’t want to?” Jaehyun challenges and Doyoung is stuck between wanting to kiss the hell out of him and punching him in the face. “I have to go.” Doyoung gets up, making sure that he makes zero eye contact with anyone in the room. Taeil’s the only one that wasn’t as nosy as everyone, thank god for Taeil. Doyoung makes his way to Taeil and asks if he wants a cup of coffee. Taeil says yes and thanks him.

 

Moving away from the several glances drilling into his back, Doyoung walks to the lounge hurriedly and emptied out a packet of ready-made coffee in a cup. Jaehyun barges in which breaks Doyoung’s train of thought and Doyoung accidentally pours the hot water on his hand instead of in the cup. It takes him a moment to realize that he’s doing so. “Are you okay?” Jaehyun rushes towards him. Doyoung probably looks blank. “What?”

 

“Are you trying to cook yourself?” Jaehyun asks – Doyoung glances down at his hand, then the pain struck. “Oh, shit.” He wrings his hands as Jaehyun watches, eyes full of amusement and concern. “I’ll get you some ice.” Jaehyun rushes over to the refrigerator. “Wait – could you also help me pass Taeil his coffee?” Doyoung requests, and Jaehyun nods. Doyoung takes this short moment he has with himself to wince in pain, his face distorted as he lets out a silent cry. He’s never going to use a kettle again.

 

To put things straight, the problem was Jaehyun. Every time their eyes met all Doyoung could think about was Jaehyun’s hands on his waist, he gets red and flustered, and he can’t think straight. What was he supposed to do? Avoid Jaehyun at all costs? That’s as good as impossible. It’s almost as bad as telling Yuta to stop having sex with Taeyong. All Doyoung could do was endure. And he’s not doing the best job, he admits.

 

“You guys are dating,” Yuta narrows his eyes, and Doyoung looks at Jaehyun, pretending to be surprised and somewhat scandalized – Jaehyun picks up and does the same. “Let’s keep it strictly-work here,” Doyoung says and Jaehyun agrees, which makes Yuta’s frown grow even bigger to the extent that even Doyoung is surprised. “Come on, no one cares that much.”

 

“I care,” Doyoung retorts, rushing back to his seat and stacking his books up. “And, by the way,” He projects his voice for everyone in their office room to hear, “I’d like to keep all my relations in here as strictly-work. Don’t talk to me about these things during office hours.”

 

Jaehyun snorts, and Doyoung glares at him before leaving with his books. He can hear the other through the door (he lingered around the exit in case they had something to say about him). “He’s such a diva,” someone laughs. It sounds just like Moon Taeil.

 

-

 

“We’re done with setting all the papers. Biology and history head-of-departments, we’re waiting on the biology and history papers. Please send a soft copy to me by tonight.” The only person that could boss them around in the school, the headmaster, instructs. Doyoung and Jaehyun nod simultaneously. Maybe Doyoung’s been thinking too much about settling things with Jaehyun that he forgot about the papers. Everything is so messy.

 

“Looks like we have to work overtime.” Doyoung sighs – the worst part about this is that they could only set exam papers in the school, meaning that they had to stay way past six to complete the paper. “I just have to look for a few more sources on the Cuban Missile Crisis before I’m done,” Jaehyun states. Yuta scoffs. “As if anyone knows what the hell you’re saying.”

 

“You’ve never set an exam paper in your entire life.” This shuts Yuta up for once.

 

Doyoung decides to study the trends of the previous papers before compiling the topics he wanted a higher importance for in a list, reading through the topics and thinking of questions to ask as well as experiments for diagrams – he doesn’t even notice the last school bell ringing and everyone else leaving.

 

_Homeostasis, I need more questions on homeostasis._

Doyoung types a question out but it seems too easy, and then it hits – he’s been going through questions breezily, it was about time he hit a mental block. He turns to look at the others before he realizes that the sky is dark, as well as the fact that no one else was in the office except for Jaehyun. He doesn’t know how to start. Doyoung clears his throat. “How’s your paper going?”

 

“It’s going alright. There are too little articles on the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Jaehyun sighs, “but I have to source them out anyway. I’m pretty sure this topic is going to be tested during the actual national exam. Hopefully, the sources overlap. That’ll be amazing. You?”

 

“Me?” Doyoung repeats, and Jaehyun swivels his chair around. “How’s your paper going?”

 

“I’m kind of stuck,” Doyoung admits, letting out a large sigh. “I don’t want it to be too easy, yet I don’t want to pressure the kids too much. It’s hard to find a perfect balance.”

 

“What would you have been if you weren’t a teacher?” Jaehyun asks. This is a question that triggers a lot of emotions from Doyoung. “I never wanted to be a teacher when I was younger, but I soon realized that my dreams were almost impossible to achieve. And then I decided to just stick to what I’m good at. I don’t know what I would’ve been if I wasn’t a teacher. A singer, maybe? Or a baker. I don’t even know. Would I have known?”

 

“Is this the typical small chat we have to have before I ask if I can kiss you again?” Jaehyun laughs while rolling his chair towards Doyoung. “Go ahead,” he replies confidently, because it’s not as if he hasn’t dreamt of this more than once. He’s dreamt of things further than this, to the point that he’s embarrassed of them. This is nothing.

 

He rolls the chair smoothly, eyes filled with something that Doyoung is unable to figure out – lips preparing for the contact. The anticipation just reminds Doyoung of how much he missed this. He throws his arms around Jaehyun’s shoulders this time, looking him deep in the eyes before the other lunges forward. It sounds cliché, but Doyoung definitely feels something explode inside of him when their lips touch, something so fresh and unfamiliar, yet warm and welcoming. He’s never been in a relationship.

 

It starts with contact between the lips, pressing against each other, before their mouths start to gape open and Jaehyun angles his head in such his nose doesn’t obstruct their closeness. They were as close as they could be. Doyoung wants to smile but his lips are busy. He follows the rhythm and makes sure that he doesn’t obstruct it. When Doyoung gets into it, he jumps right into it. He’s a hundred percent sure that he’s oblivious to his surroundings.

 

He clearly doesn’t get the signs when Jaehyun is mumbling something to him but his lips are still working hard, and as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, he snaps right out of it. “Your phone is ringing,” Jaehyun informs him – Doyoung quickly pulls his phone out impatiently. “What?” Doyoung snaps. “Mr. Kim? It’s me, Lee Donghyuck. Your favorite student.” The familiar voice rings out annoyingly from the other side of the line. Jaehyun snickers.

 

“Are you able to tell Mark and me what’s going to be tested for the exam next week-”

 

“Why don’t you just study?” Doyoung hangs up the phone quickly. “He actually wants me to tell him what I’m going to test. He actually tried. Since when did kids do that? I swear, millennials are getting out of hand. They’re ridiculous! Do they really think that the world is that easy? Just because you make a phone call and ask a question, you can get full marks for your exams?” He seethes.

 

Jaehyun chuckles and his dimples make their grand appearance again. “Come on, I think he’s just joking. You know Donghyuck.” Doyoung clears his throat. “Clearly. He would’ve been crazy to actually… ask me that… seriously. I would’ve killed whoever it was if it wasn’t Donghyuck because he’s – full of… shit.”

 

Doyoung slaps himself mentally while Jaehyun just chuckles -he always does- and Doyoung sighs. “I guess I should get back to writing the paper-” “Do you have a boyfriend?” Jaehyun interrupts abruptly. Doyoung raises an eyebrow. “Do you _think_ I have a boyfriend?”

 

“I think you do now,” Jaehyun adds, “and it’s me.”

 

“I’m dizzy,” Doyoung states. His eyes flicker to Jaehyun’s and they’re full. Doyoung’s heart is also full. “I need to sit down.”

 

Goodness gracious.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i've been working on this for 2 months because i keep procrastinating lol... it's not as good as i wanted it to be but i decided to put it up before i just forget abt it
> 
> *** DISCLAIMER: this fic is in no way trying to call donghyuck stupid or anything lmao as you can read clearly,,, it says that he's good but he doesn't care about school much..... it's not that deep and i'm not, in any way, trying to shame him lmao we all know he's smart and all that


End file.
